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Was Truman Justified Dbq Essay

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In 1939, Germany invaded Poland starting WWII. At first, the United States remained neutral; however, the U.S. was upset that Japan disrupted the Open Door Policy. The U.S. responded by freezing Japan’s assets and cutting off oil. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into war. After years of fighting, President Truman decided to drop the bomb on Japan. Was President Truman justified when he authorized the use of Atomic weapons against Japan? President Truman wasn’t justified in dropping the atomic bomb against Japan. The Japanese were close to surrendering, it was revenge for Pearl Harbor, and it was morally wrong to kill civilians. The first reason is that Japan was close to surrendering. According to Admiral …show more content…

According to President Truman, he states “Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor” (Doc 1). Therefore, dropping the atomic bombs isn’t right because the quote talks about how Truman used the atomic bombs because Japan attacked the U.S. This shows that Truman dropped the atomic bombs as a way of revenge against Japan. This way of revenge did more harm than what Japan did at Pearl Harbor by killing more people. According to President Truman’s letter, he states “because they are beasts, we should act in the same manner” (Doc 3). This evidence shows that since the Japanese acted a certain way, the U.S. should act in the same way as an act of revenge. The U.S. changing their manner killed more innocent people in Japan. According to Truman’s memoir, he states “it should be used without specific warning” (Doc 2). This evidence shows that the U.S. used the atomic bombs without warning because of the way Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Since there was no warning, it harmed more people than Japan did in the Pearl Harbor attack. To summarize, the U.S. used the atomic bombs against Japan as an act of revenge for Pearl Harbor. This act of revenge harmed and destroyed many lives of the

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